News - Yemen: Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtoor stressed on Saturday the need for the process of extending the humanitarian and military truce in Yemen to be linked to the economic and financial aspects, especially the addressing of employee salaries that have been cut off since the transfer of the Central Bank's functions to its branch in Aden, in 2016.

“The branch of the Central Bank in Aden, which is under the control of the Saudi-backed government, has failed miserably in managing monetary policy and fulfilling its obligations towards most public service employees,” Abdulaziz bin Habtoor said, during his meeting with the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Yemen in Sana’a, Ahmed Lutfi.

During the meeting, bin Habtoor discussed with Lutfi the latest developments in Oman’s consultations between the National Delegation and Saudi-backed parties, especially with regard to financial aspects and the disbursement of interrupted employees’ salaries.

In the meeting, the Deputy Governor of the Bank reviewed a set of points that were addressed in the presence of the United Nations envoy. Among them is the need to unify the management of the Central Bank, and address the problems of illegal currency printing, in addition to the plans of the Salvation Government and the Central Bank in Sana'a to maintain the stability of the foreign exchange rate against the Yemeni riyal.

He pointed out that the issue of employee salaries was among the priorities of discussions in the financial negotiations, in addition to the opening of the Hodeidah port and the establishment of a sovereign fund to manage the state's resources.

It was stressed, he added, the need to release external bank accounts and not to dispose of them in accordance with political visions, as they are accounts for banks and not for individuals.

The Prime Minister stressed the need for the process of extending the truce to be linked to the economic and financial aspects, especially the handling of employee salaries that have been cut off since the transfer of the Central Bank’s jobs to its branch in Aden. The bank failed miserably in managing monetary policy and fulfilling its obligations towards most public service employees after its transfer.

He pointed out that the mercenaries of the US-Saudi aggression and their leaders seek to prolong the aggression against Yemen for material personal purposes far from the rights and requirements of the Yemeni people and their aspiration to end the aggression, lift the siege and achieve honorable peace, which preserves Yemen's security, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

In early June, a meeting held in Muscat, headed by the head of National Delegation Mohammed Abdulsalam, with the UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg, in the presence of the Acting Chairman of the Supreme Economic Committee Hashem Ismail and the Chairman of the Military Committee Yahya Al-Razami, discussed the course of truce, the obstacles it faced, and the need to pay the salaries of state employees.

The Acting Chairman of the Supreme Economic Committee indicated that the initiative of the Supreme Political Council to open a special account for salaries in the Central Bank branch in Hodeidah, and to deposit the revenues of oil fuel ships to it, has been in place since 2020.

Ismail stressed that despite the scarcity of revenues, depositing them continues by Sana'a, including the revenues of the ships that entered under the truce, and are used to disburse half a salary from time to time.

Ismail reiterated his readiness to coordinate any mechanisms that guarantee ending the suffering of employees and retirees in all governorates, and disbursing their salaries on a regular basis.

He touched on the monthly revenues of oil looted by the Saudi-backed government, which amount to approximately 260 million dollars per month, noting that despite these revenues, salaries of employees in the occupied governorates are not paid on a regular basis.

He also stressed that there is no point in any truce that does not serve the citizens, and does not contribute to alleviating their suffering caused by the US-Saudi aggression, the siege, and the economic war that targets all the Yemeni people.

The UN envoy stressed that the issue of state employees' salaries will be a top priority that will be worked on.

In early April, after Yemen’s Supreme Political Council declared a voluntary and unilateral three-day pause in retaliatory strikes against targets in Saudi Arabia, the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced the nationwide ceasefire, for the first time since 2015.

The deal stipulates halting offensive military operations, including cross-border attacks, and allowing fuel-laden ships to enter Yemen's lifeline Hodeidah port and commercial flights in and out of the airport in the capital Sana'a "to predetermined destinations in the region ."

However, in light of UN silence, the Saudi-led aggression was still obstructing flights to the Sana'a International Airport in Yemen’s capital and detaining fuel ships that were headed to the country. The fires of the aggression side did not subside along the fronts, on the borders and inside, including shelling, reconnaissance, development and crawl.
 
In early June, the United Nations announced that Yemen’s National Salvation Government and the US-Saudi coalition have agreed to renew the two-month truce after days of negotiations and promises to fulfill the terms of the agreement.
 
The UN envoy noted that the truce was extended under the same terms as the previous one.

The United Nations continues to condone the crimes committed by the Saudi-led aggression. It only holds the coalition responsible for crimes when it seeks to blackmail the Kingdom and oblige it to pay millions of dollars. The UN is not concerned with the souls of the victims, as it provided cover for this aggression for years, and kept silent in the face of many of its criminal practices, whether through raids or sieges.